Medic (Team Fortress 2)

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Character
Name: Medic (real name Mr. Ludwig)
Occupation: Mercenary, mad scientist
Relationships: Other mercs (coworkers)
Fandom: Team Fortress 2
Other:
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The Medic is one of the nine playable classes in Team Fortress 2.

Canon

The Medic, AKA Mr. Ludwig,[1] is a mad doctor from Stuttgart[2] and/or Rottenberg,[3] Germany, implied to be one in a long line of mad doctors from the town. His actual medical credentials are unknown; some official material questions whether he had legitimate medical training. In the "Meet the Medic" trailer,[4] Medic claims to have had a medical license which he lost after an incident in which a patient's skeleton went missing.

Medic spends much of his time in the TF2 comics working for the Team Fortress Classic mercenaries, though he ultimately betrays them and appears to have been plotting against them all along. At one point Medic sold his soul to the Devil, and later surgically attached eight more souls to his own, giving the devil only partial ownership of his soul (a loophole he uses to trick the Devil into letting him come back to life).

Fandom

Medic is a popular character in TF2 fanworks. As of January 2024, he has been tagged in over 4200 works on Archive of Our Own and over 600 works on FanFiction.Net. He often takes a supporting role in fics, sometimes (along with Engineer) acting as a vessel for exposition.

As is the case for most of the characters of TF2, Medic has been given his fair share of fanon names over the years.[5] It is not made explicit whether his one canon name, Ludwig, is a given name or surname, and fans have differing opinions over which it is, or even if's both:

A headcanon I genuinely believe in is that Medic's name is "Ludwig Ludwig" due to both of them being valid first and last names. I don't know when or how I thought of it, but it's so tied to how I see Medic that it's impossible for me to look at him and not go: "Ah yes, Mr. Ludwig Ludwig himself." I also think it's by far the funniest answer to the whole name debate too.

Tumblr post by some-pers0n, dated July 2nd, 2023.

A sign advertising "Humboldt's Pharmacy" in the in-game map of his hometown of Rottenburg has led to some believing that his surname is Humboldt, making his full name Mr. Ludwig Humboldt. He is also sometimes given the name "Josef" (a common male German given name) or "Fritz" (taken from one of Soldier's voicelines).[6]

Medic is sometimes depicted in fanworks as having a split personality of sorts; this is likely in part inspired by the "Second Opinion" cosmetic, which splits his face in two and gives him new voice lines.[7] This idea has been expanded upon by the fan film Emesis Blue, in which Medic's inner struggle defines his character arc. The film's release has resulted in a wave of fanart depicting this version of Medic (named Dr. Fritz Ludwig in the film), almost all of it angsty in nature.

As is the case with many of the mercs, Medic's characterization in various fanworks has long been a sore spot for many fans. Complaints have been made about the "woobification" of Medic, as have complaints about him being characterized as uniquely sadistic or uncaring towards his team.

i still don't understand why people are so allergic to the premise of medic redeeming himself and becoming better and would prefer him to just stick to being le evil scientist guy [...] it just feels weird to portray a character known for subverting expectations of the mad scientist/doctor trope......in the most predictable and boring way possible sorry. i'm just not fond of medic being portrayed as a 100% villainous character in contrast to the rest of the mercs. very weird imo. also doesn't leave room for any interesting writing

Tumblr post by mikadll, dated Dec. 4th, 2022.

TF2's Medic and Heavy get this a lot. Medic gets this "uwu soft and caring" persona from a lot of fans when the man is probably the most aggressively psychopathic person on the team and buffer than half the cast.

Reddit comment by ibbolia, dated Mar. 16th, 2021.

people woobifying medic and making him this frail weak pitiful creature that’s useless without heavy [...] have u seen him run around the battlefield and saw through people

Tumblr post by orcino.

While it's true that even within the tf2niverse Medic is treated as uniquely "unhinged", as they say, he's not really treated as uniquely bad. He's literally not a bad person, because within funny video games, killing people doesn't matter. [...] He's "evil" in a purely superficial sense, in a fun way; he's an "evil scientist" in the same way, like, Merasmus is an "evil wizard", in that they're intentionally funny comedic joke characters whose actions aren't meant to be taken seriously. Medic tf2 is funny! The killings and atrocities and etc are not unique to him and the attitude he takes about them are Why he's fun. Idk I just don't get Medic angst or Medic grimdark or Medic redemption arcs. He's already a good guy he doesn't need to be boring about it

Tumblr post by aprofessionalwithoutstandards, dated Dec. 20th, 2022.

Sobbing and pounding my head against the wall every time I see somebody write Medic TF2 as either a twink who always wants to help people or a Nazi who hates his team and wants to kill them all. He's Silly and I've only seen a couple people truly understand that.

Reddit comment by SomePerson06, dated Sept. 23rd, 2023.

Headcanons

Given the Medic's relatively murky backstory, several headcanons relating to him have taken root in the fandom over the years.

Sexuality

Medic is frequently headcanoned as being gay, often in conjunction with the headcanon that he and Heavy are in an intimate relationship. There is one voiceline in which Demoman brags about having sex with Medic’s wife;[8] this is the only time any character references Medic having a spouse in canon (assuming that the in-game voicelines are canon), and fans are divided on whether it is proof of Medic actually being married. Naturally, some fans have created works which feature Medic's alleged wife.[9]

Where was Medic During WWII?

Given that Medic is from Germany and is implied to be at least 50 years old in 1972 by one line from the comics, some fans have speculated that Medic may have been affiliated with either the German military or Nazi Party before and/or during WWII. Many fanworks, such as the popular early longfic Respawn of the Dead, depict Medic as an ex-Nazi. Some visual fanworks draw on Nazi imagery when depicting Medic, such as the SFM Be Prepared and numerous pieces of fanart.[10]. This trope is quite controversial within the fandom, and many authors explicitly state that the versions of Medic they write are not and were never Nazis (the “Medic Is Not A Nazi” tag has been used 18 times on AO3).

Multiple unofficial sources have made the claim that either Valve or Medic’s voice actor, Robin Atkin Downes, have gone on the record to say that Medic is not a Nazi.[11][12] The existence of an official source for this claim has not been verified. The claim may originate from a user on TF2chan who visited Valve's offices in 2010.[13]

Jewish Medic

A headcanon that has gained some traction in recent years is that Medic is Jewish. Supporters of this headcanon sometimes point to the instrumental track Archimedes[14] (named after Medic's pet dove), which features Klezmer-style music, as evidence that Medic was intended to be read as an Ashkenazi Jew. The headcanon has found a home in many fanworks (as of January 2024 there are 21 works on AO3 which use the "Jewish Medic (Team Fortress 2)" tag), though it is not without controversy of its own, especially due to how often it is used as a direct counter to the aforementioned Nazi!Medic headcanon.

I see a lot of people discussing if medic was a nazi, but what if he was instead a jew from Germany, or at least born from a Jewish family, even if he himself doesn't identify as a jew? That would explain why he ended up in the US (there was a lot of Jewish immigration to the US) and not in some third world country (there are plenty of examples of nazi officers escaping to south America after WWII, for example). That would also explain why he is able to cooperate and make bonds with his diverse set of teammates.

Reddit post by u/benjamarchi, dated May 24th, 2021.

Hot take, Medic met the devil in Canon, so he almost definitely is not Jewish. In fact, I think it's lowkey antisemitic some people would even think to make him Jewish. And to not forget that most portrayals I have seen are very stereotyping, not helping the case at all.

Tumblr post by poplinn, dated March 3rd, 2020.

TBH I find the idea of TF2 Medic as a Jewish man 1000 times more appealing, complex and dynamic than him being a retired Nazi doctor.

Tumblr post by isaactheterrible, dated Sep. 12th, 2023.

Some people will point out that "Jewish instruments were used for parts of the Medic soundtrack so therefore he is Jewish."

I don't really see how that could count as factual proof. Most of the time different types of instruments are solely used for creating a specific type of atmosphere, and these instruments were quite common in Germany, in the whole of Europe actually, during roughly the time period Medic was born. Of course I'm not against Medic being Jewish but I just see it as a little far-fetched? It's a possibility however.

The only thing about people portraying Medic as Jewish that irritates me quite a lot is the reasoning "He is German and was alive during WW2, he's not a Nazi so the only possible explanation for that is that he is Jewish.”

Implying that every single German person alive during that time was a Nazi. I'm sorry, but that is blatantly racist and not historically accurate in the slightest.

Amino post by Dareehn, dated Nov. 17th, 2018.

Medic is totally Jewish. The "Archimedes!" song is some pretty nice klezmer music. And his nose would fit right in with my Jewish relatives'. And when he sings "Danke Schoen", he uses the Yiddish pronounciation of "schoen" (rhymes with "pain" instead of "pawn"), which, to be fair, is used in the English translation of the song, but considering the fact there's also a German version, you'd think he'd sing that. And I think it's left intentionally ambiguous which version of the song he's singing, because he just goes "danke schoen, nah nah, danke schoen." The English version goes "danke shoen, darling, danke schoen," but he's apparently forgotten most of the words... which is pretty endearing. So, headcanon: Medic is a dippy, eccentric Jewish guy (he's an atheist, and a nihilist, but he's still culturally Jewish, and his mother was mad as hell when he lost his medical license. She threatened to die of shock, and made a big deal out of how her son, who's not a doctor, couldn't save her if she did) who has no idea why he comes across as an uptight ex-Nazi.

Anonymous post on TF2chan, dated Sept. 9th, 2012.

Pairings

By far the most popular pairing featuring Medic is Heavy/Medic (AKA Red Oktoberfest), which is also the most popular pairing in the TF2 fandom. This ship is based on the often-close relationship of Medics and Heavys in gameplay (as a Medic can continuously heal and eventually Übercharge a Heavy while the Heavy acts as a shield for the Medic).

Medic has been shipped with every playable character in the game, and there are currently over 50 works on AO3 alone in which Medic is shipped with himself. Other popular Medic ships include Medic/Sniper (AKA Bush Medicine) and Medic/Scout (AKA QuickFix). Medic is the most popular mercenary for self-shipping (with almost 300 works tagged Medic/Reader on AO3 and likely hundreds more across other sites).

Example Fanworks

Art

Fic

Vids

SFM

Other

Meta

Resources

References

  1. ^ The Naked and the Dead, pg. 208. Image from the official TF2 Wiki.
  2. ^ The Medic (official class profile). Valve.
  3. ^ Two Cities update: Rottenburg. Valve, Nov. 20th, 2013.
  4. ^ "Meet the Medic", Valve, June 23rd, 2011.
  5. ^ "TF2: What is the Medic's Real Name? (Evidence & Headcanons)". SkyminSlash, December 18th, 2016.
  6. ^ Soldier responses (Official TF2 Wiki). The "Dominating a Medic" section contains this voiceline.
  7. ^ Second Opinion (Official TF2 Wiki).
  8. ^ Demoman responses (Official TF2 Wiki); the "Dominating a Medic" section contains this voiceline.
  9. ^ Comic by vesper-stardust, circa 2013. This comic features Medic's wife and directly references Demo's voiceline.
  10. ^ Search results for "nazi medic tf2" on DeviantArt This query brings up several examples of Nazi!Medic art.
  11. ^ List of references (Medic), a page on the official TF2 wiki. The "Responses" section of this outdated version of the page includes the claim that Valve has stated that Medic is not a Nazi. The claim is not sourced.
  12. ^ TV Tropes, Word of God page. This page contains an unsourced quote related to the Nazi!Medic discourse.
  13. ^ Thread on TF2chan, possible origin of the "Valve says Medic was never a Nazi" claim.
  14. ^ Archimedes (Soundtrack) on the Official TF2 Wiki.
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